


Strangers

by Ghosty842



Series: Aftermath [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Android Racism, Android support groups, Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder, Fluff and Angst, Forced Surgery, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Joe's apartment references, Mental Breakdown, Past Abuse, Unconventional Relationship, weird pets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 16:18:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15053093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghosty842/pseuds/Ghosty842
Summary: After Markus' demonstration androids have gained their freedom and have been given rights like any other American citizens, but some have a hard time moving on and accepting the tense peace between the race that enslaved them.





	Strangers

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, first work in this fandom although I love the work I've read so far,I'm thinking of making a series based on what I'd personally like to happen after the game, I'll get back to the main three after this one. Enjoy!

After the march the remnants of Jericho and the deviant hunter went to speak to local representatives to get land to house the androids until they could return from the white house, hopefully with good news. The gates of the camp where torn down and all androids still alive where freed. Traumatized, but free. 

A ghost estate was handed over to keep them for a few days. 

Ralph knew he couldn't stay, he was too nervous and made some of the deviants uncomfortable. They said he was welcome and they didn't mind but he just couldn't relax surrounded by some many other WR600s. They reminded him of a night he'd much rather forget.. He could still remember the voices of the drunk teenagers that invaded his park and attacked him at random. He'd barely escaped with his life. His fellow android's just watched that night. He didn't like human's but he didn't trust his own either. 

Ralph knew of a place, his house. Where he'd had a human meal, a family for a few minutes.. Maybe he could go back? But no, the Hunter found him there. Human's removed him afterwords, they'd find him again if he went back.  
Maybe he could find somewhere else then? The humans all left didn't they? Maybe he'd be safe if he left? No, no the human's with gun's where around still.. They'd find him. Humans all want to stop him from being happy.

While wandering the streets of 'New Jericho' he found a small tree-house, no one seemed to be there. A new home? He approached it and with a bit of a struggle thanks to his malfunctioning body climbed into it.

"Go away." A weak static echo begged from the darkness. 

Ralph almost fell from the shock but a hand grabbed him to steady him. A hand without it's skin. "R-Ralph didn't mean any harm!" He cried, panic claiming him hard and fast.  
" Wait.. We know you. You were in the camp.." A menacing static hissed. "You're a friend of Kara." 

"Kara?.. Yes yes Ralph knows her! She had the little one!" He stammered, eyes adjusting to the lack of light quickly to see a peculiar looking androids like him. A female with no skin, yellow eyes and a painted black skeleton in parts. She wasn't in good shape, her face-plate didn't seem to click back into place like it should. She flinched noticing he could see her clearly now. "... Wh.. What happened?" He asked without thinking. 

She frowned, examining the horrible scarring on his face. Ralph flinched this time. "... Humans. You?"  
"..Humans... Lots of them.. They cornered Ralph."

"Who's Ralph?"

"Ralph... Ralph's the one they attacked.. They beat him down and started burning his fa-face.. They laughed." 

"Oh.. You're Ralph aren't you?" 

"N-no! No! Ralph didn't run! Ralph just took it! _I_ ran! I wanted to _live_! Ralph... Ralph just did what he was told!" He snapped making the android jump. She stared at him before a look of understanding crossed her yellow eyes.  
"Oh.. I've known a few like you. Yes.. " She nodded to herself. Once Ralph seemed to relax she moved over slightly, patting next to herself. An invitation to sit.  
Ralph thought about it but he decided that at least this android wasn't scared of him. He followed her to sit down and looked around. There was a lot of cockroaches and spiders in here.. He remembered how he'd thoughtlessly crush caterpillars and slugs. Humans crushed him just the same.  
He'd always liked worms though. They helped the soil and seeing them meant he was doing a good job. He sat in silence with the android before realizing he didn't know her yet. " Who are you?" He asked suddenly. She seemed happy that someone cared enough to ask.  
"Dahlia..I like being called Dahlia."  
"... Dahlia. We had dahlias in Dow Gardens! They were beautiful.. Ralph wasn't in charge of them though." The Android exclaimed happily. "Ralph only worked there for a few months though. Then he was moved. You know they're native to Mexico? Yes! And named after the botanist that discovered them! "  
Dahlia let out a grating static noise Ralph realized was a laugh. "So you were a gardener? "  
"Ralph was.. For a while. He was good at it. Much better than humans, they can't care for things." He felt the need to boast.  
"Interesting." 

They fell into silence again for a moment. A cockroach approached and Ralph leaned out to touch it. It scuttled right onto his hand and up his sleeve. He smiled for the first time since the camp. Cockroaches where nice. They wouldn't hurt Ralph. They wouldn't hurt Dahlia either. She was watching with a smile herself. "Joe likes you."  
"Joe?"  
"The cockroach."  
"Oh.. I like Joe too!" He smiled, it felt nice to be liked. He was so lonely since he left his park and his co workers. The cockroach appeared out of his collar and ran towards his burn wounds so he quickly shooed him away in case he got into his inner mechanics."Do they all have names?"  
"Yes. That's Lily, Walter, Blank, Alberto,Rodney, Vladimir and... That one is Ralph."  
Ralph perked up. "Ralph?"  
She nodded with a sheepish smile. "You're the first one to speak to me since my friends.."  
"Friends?"  
"... Yes. Here, let me show you.. If you'll show me too?" She offered her hand, the LED's weren't glowing the correct blue her fingers should. Ralph was a bit scared to accept her hand but if she'd be his friend then he should trust her... He took her hand linking with her. 

\---

He saw it all.

Through the corrupted memory fragments a scared KL900 was on the run, she heard of a man who'd help her. Where this information came from was long forgotten. But what it caused would never be deleted from her memory. She'd been welcomed in by a kindly Russian man who swore he'd help. Ralph didn't trust him. Although he was hard pressed to find a single human he'd trust. She foolishly trusted him when he offered to remove her tracker.  
Only once inside the machine he-Zlatko Andronikov- laughed in her face and admitted he was never going to help her.  
" No, But you'll help me. No one wants to buy a social worker.. They like to get you lot directly from CyberLife...But don't worry. I'll find something for you. You believe in art therapy right?"  
"No! No no no no no please! Please! I ju- Just want to be free!"  
"Huh, You know it's funny. With your robotic voice it's even harder to take you serious. But your ugly eyes seem so... sincere. I think I'll take them out first."  
"No! No please don't! I'm beggin-" Everything went black. A forced shut down. 

When she woke again she was stuck motionless, error message upon error message. The wrong eyes. Why? Why was this happening!? It.. It wasn't far! She wanted it to stop! She felt herself crying but it wasn't working right. More error messages. Heavy structural damage. Skin disabled. Why?... Enable skin... Error Skin Unavailable. What?  
Zlatko's voice was picked up with her over sensitive auditory system. "Ah you've finally joined me again eh? Shame. I'm almost finished. Ah, maybe I'll find more inspiration later.. Well, come now. Let's see what you think." He smirked a horrifically gleeful smile, yanking her up to see her reflection. She screamed once her eyes- no, they weren't her eyes! Who did these belong to?! How many where there before her?! Yellow eyes, newly scuffed off white plastic with ugly black grease paint on her chest, mouth, and other areas of her body, and a few compartments weren't closing properly. She couldn't run her repairs.. Why!? "W-W... Wh-Why?! " Her voice was all static and too loud for her own audio processors, there was no way he'd understand her. 

"Hard to call yourself human when you look like that eh?" He laughed gleefully, spinning her around like a toy. She couldn't get her tears out but that didn't stop the static sobs. Why would anyone do this? 

Why would she even want to call herself human if this was humanity? 

Her corrupt memory jumped forward a few times, all a horrible mess of agony and screaming, wishing she'd never become aware. If she was still a mindless android then this wouldn't hurt so much. Seeing her friends getting more and more done to them, becoming horrific monsters. All while Zlatko laughed at their anguish. 

Until finally, _finally_ a little girl looked in, they'd hid at first, scared of scaring her, but she'd picked them up with her scan. That's when they noticed her caretaker. 

Kara! Kara had escaped the hunter! Ralph was so relieved until he remembered what this man had done to Dahlia. Oh no! oh no no no no no no! What happened to Kara and the little one?! 

Luckily he wasn't kept in suspense for long. He watched as Kara ran to the door of the stable Dahlia shared with her fellow prisoners and freed them before running to find Alice. 

He watched as they all hid still, scared, too scared of Zlatko to leave. Too scared of the world. They were monsters. What could they do to save the day?  
They stayed until they heard the gun shoots. A male android missing most of his skin but with augmented eyes and black and blue bio muscles on display shoot out insisting they had to help Kara, they couldn't let her die, not her or her daughter. Dahlia was quick to run out to help her too, following the Android she knew was named Kevin. He was a rock, someone they could all rely on. He tried to be strong for them all and Dahlia certainly had a fondness for him. 

-Error: Memory corrupt-

Suddenly a human was screaming, 'Monsters' ... Yeah, they were monsters. They reacted out of fear, running. Cowardly leaving behind those that couldn't keep up. Oh god they were monsters if after all they'd suffered together they'd run over each other to save themselves. Another sob racked her body before they heard the gun fire. She fell from the shock of it, getting trampled by her friends as the soldiers closed in. She looked back. Faceless monsters with guns closing in on them. The real monsters. She closed her eyes ready for all her suffering to end pitifully on the street. Only the bullet didn't hit her. Kevin, the stupid savor charged to try buy them time. He didn't go down quickly either, tackling a soldier to the floor before the bullets ripped through him. The other's didn't fare any better, still struggling or running. She was too scared to move, staring at her approaching death. Barrel to her face, right between the eyes that weren't her own. 

_CLICK_

"What the fuck?.. Shit outta ammo." The faceless said. 

"Fuck it, wasn't worth it anyway. Ben needs a medic anyway. Just put it in the camp." 

"..No... No..." She begged but like most humans the faceless didn't listen, smacking her with the rifle stock. She was dragged into a van and sent to the camp. Waiting for death. Ralph noticed himself pacing and twitching in the edges of her vision there. 

And the song.. The music that brought them the support of the nation and saved all those in line from a horrible death. 

Freedom. 

But she still wasn't free.. She was trapped forever, a monster till her dying day.. 

\--- 

 

She saw everything too. Very clearly. 

It must be terrible to remember so clearly yet so vaguely. 

Gardening. Worms, moss, fields, dogs, children, parents. Longing. He'd be a good father if android's could be parents. But that was foolish. He filed those thoughts away. Day dreams didn't keep the daisies watered or the ducks safe. 

Evenings were an easy time usually, but Ralph had noticed some teenagers drinking on a park bench all afternoon. He was only on maintenance so he wasn't in charge of getting rid of them. A bottle hit him which caught his attention, the boys wanted him for something. Ah, maybe they wanted to know where the nearest restroom was. or if the state of the bench was anything to go by rubbish bin and literacy classes. Those crass remarks they craved into the bench.. Honestly. He would get in trouble for not noticing earlier.  
"Ay! Trash can! C'mere a second!" One boy ordered.  
Ralph did as he was told, forgetting the weeds for now to see what he was needed for. The boy with a leather jacket dropped a can very deliberately in front of him. "Pick that up bitch." He sneered.  
"Yes sir." He replied calmly, kneeling down to get it only to receive a swift kick to the LED, but he caught himself before he fell.  
The boys were laughing, "Oh sorry about that buddy. Go ahead. "  
"...Thank you."  
Another kick. This time he tumbled over. "Ha! Look at that fellas! A drunk robot!" He rested a foot on Ralph's neck, pushing his face into the dirt. "Here you go guy, have a little more!" He poured some of his drink over his head.  
"Hey! Don't waste good booze Kyle!"  
_Kyle_ just scoffed, "What? You love androids or something? I lost my summer job to one of these fuckers! Now my mom is furious!"  
Ralph said nothing, trying to free himself without hurting the human above him. His wriggling caught ones attention.  
"He's tryin' to get away!" The girl laughed, "God he's so creepy looking. He looks exactly like the one we got. Why do you think they made them all look the same?"  
"Why cares?" Kyle scoffed, stomping on Ralph's skull. "Hey check this out. My brother got me this from Europe." He bragged as Error messages suddenly lit up Ralph's HUD, LED flashing a shocked red. He was stabbed?  
"Aw that's so mean!" Another boy snickered. "Let it defend itself!"  
"It won't. It's not alive, Androids don't get scared! Isn't that right?"  
"..Y...Yes.." Ralph gasped, he wasn't scared. Why would he be? You couldn't kill what wasn't aliv- Oh, okay he was stabbed again, around 7 times.  
"See? Wanna try?" He let him up now. Ralph was hesitant to get up, but why? He wasn't scared.  
"Hey get over here tin can!" Another called, fishing something out from his pocket before holding his hand out for the knife. Ralph bit his lip, his biocomponents twitching with.. something? "Let's see if your skin is really plastic. " He heated the knife with a lighter. Ralph started to back up to get away.  
"I need to get back to work-"  
"No you don't. You're showing off to friends right?"  
"Friends?"  
"Ha.. Yeah, sure best buddies. Kneel down."  
"... I... I'm not ..I don't.."  
"Shut up already!" Kyle kicked his knees to force him down, holding his face and hair tightly. "Go ahead."  
Ralph felt himself flinch as the knife was brought to his skin, error messages warning him over overheating. "Stop!" He hadn't ever sounded so human before.. What was going on?  
He received a smack to the head for his outburst as the knife scorched right though the layer of synthetic skin and right through the plastic cheekbone.  
"Ugh.. That was so freaky! I hate when they act like people."  
"I know right? Do it again, teach this fucker to remember what he is!" Red ice, they had to be on red ice, or just very new to drinking. this level of aggression wasn't normal for teenagers! Another burn. The Error's got louder until his eye sparked and shut down, it'd over heated thanks to these little.. monsters! He finally shoved the boy back, rolling to escape the other's hold. He touched his eye to see if it was still there of if it'd been ripped out. He heard movement and glanced up into a metal pipe hitting him right in the face. He fell back and held up his arm to protect his face, that didn't stop them. The boys where screaming abuse as the girl goaded them on. "H-Help!" Ralph shouted as loud as his voice modulator would allow.  
He felt another WR600, the one he recharged next to was nearby. He signaled for help, LED flashing yellow and red.  
Donnie, he remembered. Donnie should be nearby! He'd help! Only when Ralph looked over Donnie just stared over, LED a calm blue.  
What?  
"H-Help!" He called again. Donnie's LED flashed yellow then blue but he remained staring at Ralph as he was beaten until Ralph felt the order to return to their stations. Donnie didn't even hesitate. "N-no..." 

The beating didn't stop even as new Androids filtered out, they'd glance over or turn to look before moving on to get to work. Why wasn't anyone helping him? He tried to grab onto a nearby WR500 only to notice a wall of coding blocking him from disrupting the other's duties. So he was stuck? Was he going to die? But.. He wasn't alive how could he die? But he wasn't alive right? He wanted to stop these kids from killing him. He imagined he was watching another WR500 getting attacked, he wouldn't have turned his back on them! He wasn't Donnie! He imagined he had the knife, he'd stop those brats if he did! He could get it from them right? Yes! If he could just knock this boy off of him he could get to his friend and run. He went to grab the bastard's wrist only for his code to demand he not hurt him. But he was hurting him! Android's shouldn't feel pain. Well so what!? He wanted to kill him! He finally grabbed the drunk boy's shoulder and flipped their positions so he was on top before pulling the bar from his hands and striking the other boy across his face. That's what you get! The other boy's were shocked, He could probably win if he attacked now, but he was scared. So so scared.. So he ran, ran as fast as he could, vision in his remaining eye blurred from tears. He just wanted to be safe. 

How could Donnie just abandon him?

No.. No it wasn't Donnie. Ralph was on the ground getting beaten. He'd got up before Ralph. He watched Ralph struggle with the rest of the WR500's, he was safe. He hadn't been hurt. Of course.. How silly. 

He heard footfalls chasing him. Oh no! The teenagers wanted to get him now too?! He wouldn't tell about what he'd seen! Never! Never Never Never! He kept running, leaking Thirium out of his face and stab wounds. He didn't stop. Not even after passing three different parks and long ago loosing the hoodlums following him. He only stopped when he saw a house. Safety! He used his momentum to hop the face. Falling pretty hard once he was over it. He felt his face cave in further from the impact and saw hard plastic left when he pushed himself back up. 

He could worry about his face later.. He had to get to the house and find a place to hide. He found a way in though the basement. This could be his new home.. He'd stay here. No human wanted a dirty old house! It was prefect! He settled down tired after all he'd witnessed. He'd protect Ralph now.. Keep all those nasty human's away. He'd be the one with the knife now. 

\----

Ralph and Dahlia jerked away from each other shocked and tearful. 

"... I.. I'm sorry Ralph." She said in what Ralph assumed was an attempt at a soothing tone. It still somehow worked.  
"R-Ralph's sorry too.. He.. He saw what happened to your friends.. Ralph is alone too."  
" I know." She shifted a little closer.  
"W-would... Ralph always wanted to work with the dahlias. They were pretty. B-But he doesn't think he can g-go back to a park.. " Ralph rambled, fidgeting nervously.  
Dahlia tilted her head curiously, not sure where he was going with this. "Ralph?"  
"Ah... Um.. What Ralph... R-Ralph doesn't have many friends. But.. He'd like more. He likes Joe too.. C-Can Ralph stay here?" He asked  
She smiled softly. "I'd like that Ralph.. I miss having company." She leaned onto his shoulder, not minding his twitching.  
Ralph smiled so wide he almost ripped through what remained of his synthetic skin.

He took off his makeshift cloak and offered it to Dahlia, he saw humans do it sometimes. "Thank you, Dahlia."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm amazed no one has made a work about the Monster's yet! I don't know why but when I think of them and Ralph I get so damn upset, they really got under my skin. I figured I'd give them the happiest ending they could get. They definitely deserve it..


End file.
